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28.05.

1947: August Eigruber – an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of “Reichsgau Oberdonau” (Upper Danube)

1947: August Eigruber – an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of “Reichsgau Oberdonau” (Upper Danube)
Photo Credit To Wikipedia Commons/ Heinrich Himmler (left) with August Eigruber (right) in KZ Mauthausen ("Bundesarchiv Bild 192-140, KZ Mauthausen, Himmler mit Eigruber" by Bundesarchiv, Bild 192-140 / CC-BY-SA. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de via Wikimedia Commons)

Story Highlights

  • Historical event:
  • 28 May 1947
  • Eigruber was arrested at the end of World War II. He was sentenced for his responsibility for crimes at Mauthausen concentration camp (located in Upper Austria, where he was “Landeshauptmann”). He was sentenced to death by hanging, and hanged at the Bavarian Landsberg Prison on this day in 1947 (Hitler had been imprisoned there in 1924).

August Eigruber was born in Steyr, Upper Austria.



The young Hitler had also lived in Steyr when he attended school. It is interesting to note that the Austrian province of Styria (Steiermark) was named after the city of Steyr, and this city is located in Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), not in Styria.

August Eigruber joined the Nazi party when it was banned in Austria. In 1936 he became the Gauleiter of “Reichsgau Oberdonau”. Namely, the Nazi party had several districts (Gaue), which were headed by “Gauleiters”, i.e. “leaders of the district”. Hitler’s birthplace, Braunau am Inn, was within the Reichsgau Oberdonau, and was called the “Führer’s native district” (Heimatgau des Führers).

Austria became part of the German Reich, and Eigruber was appointed the regional “Reichstatthalter” (governor). “Reichstatthalters” had dictatorial powers in the Third Reich (of course, they were under control of Berlin). In the SS, August Eigruber received the rank of Obergruppenführer, similar to the rank of corps general in the German Army. It is interesting to note that he was a supervisory board member of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG company.

Eigruber was arrested at the end of World War II. He was sentenced for his responsibility for crimes at Mauthausen concentration camp (located in Upper Austria, where he was “Landeshauptmann”). He was sentenced to death by hanging, and hanged at the Bavarian Landsberg Prison on this day in 1947. Hitler had been imprisoned there in 1924 (he also wrote his book “Mein Kampf” there).




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